Systematic Theologies: Recommended Reading

I completed a series of posts listing what I believe to be the most helpful commentaries on each book of the Bible. What I would like to do now is something similar with other biblical, theological, and historical topics. For several reasons, I do not plan to follow the “Top 5” format here. In the first place, there are exponentially more books on each topic that I plan to cover now. Unless I’ve read a substantial number of the available books on a particular topic, I cannot say: “Here are the top 5.” Second, I do not necessarily want to limit myself to five books on a topic. There may be more than five. There may be less.

No comment or justification is really necessary here. If you are interested in theology, particularly Reformed theology, Calvin’s Institutes is a must-read. This work is one of the classic works of Christian theology.

The 2008 publication of the fourth volume of the English translation of Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics was a blessing for systematic theologians. Bavinck’s work has been among the most influential theological works of the last century, but because it was available only in Dutch, it reached a limited audience.

Berkhof’s Systematic Theology has been a standard textbook in Reformed seminaries for over 60 years. The new combined edition contains his Systematic Theology text as well as his 1932 book, Introduction to Systematic Theology.